Never did I think I would be paying Doha, Qatar a visit, but the last few months have been filled with surprises for me. I left my job in Portland for a role that would be closer to my family across the county, my car got stolen with all my possessions in it, didn't get the job due to a conflict of interest, then became a victim of credit card fraud. All in one month.
I wanted to do something to cheer myself up and take my mind off the daunting process of insurance claims and applying for urban planning jobs in a very competitive market where you have to get used to rejection after rejection. I've always wanted to visit South East Asia and I found a relatively affordable flight on Qatar Airways.
I changed my flight to include a stop over in Doha because I was interested in seeing the city and the art the country has been spending billions on and I was not disappointed by my decision at all.
Doha is a fascinating place, most of the population hails from South Asia or the Philippines and there's a good chunk of expats from the UK and Australia as well. There are so many foreigners that the locals have to speak English to be able to do anything. The whole city is under construction with huge mansions, skyscrapers, a very large metro system, parks, urban regeneration projects, museums and malls going up everywhere.
It's crazy to drive around seeing supercars you'd never see anywhere else driven by the locals and the only other vehicles on the road are the white busses shuttling construction works from labor camps to various construction sites around the city.
The weather isn't as bad as I was expecting but it does cool down significantly at night which is when the city comes alive. Most shops and restaurants are open late to accommodate the nocturnal life style. With people from all around the world the country seemed very open. People wore all kinds of dress and there was drinking almost everywhere.
Before I visited I thought there wouldn't be much more than the impressive Hamad Airport and the facilities related to the large Qatar Airways hub, however there is an interesting historic city center and a
new walkable downtown growing around it with miles of american style gated communities with large homes sprawling out along the ring roads of the city. It will be interesting to see what Doha becomes in the future as all these projects finish and provide even more urban amenities to its residents.
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I've got a huge backlog of photos to post on here so hopefully this Doha post will be the first of many. I hope you found the pictures interesting and exotic as Doha isn't a place we see on here often.
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